


it feels so right to be here with you

by parisinjune



Category: High School Musical (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fluff, Karaoke, Meet-Cute, New Year's Eve, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-28 16:16:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17186267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parisinjune/pseuds/parisinjune
Summary: Five different ways of finding your soulmate, one fateful New Year’s Eve.





	1. it’s like catching lightning

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve always loved soulmate AUs, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one for Troy and Gabriella, even though their meeting is _perfect_ for one of these AUs. So, I’ve decided to write five different soulmate AUs, which I will post over the next couple of days leading up to New Year’s Eve. It was quite hard to write the same scene, which already exists in canon, in five different ways, but I hope it turned out to be enjoyable!
> 
> As always, please leave a comment and/or kudos. And you can find me on Tumblr at @[gabriellabolton](http://gabriellabolton.tumblr.com/) (my main blog) and @[bisexualsharpay](http://bisexualsharpay.tumblr.com/) (my HSM sideblog).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the one where you know when you first kiss them

Troy Bolton has kissed girls before.

Being the most popular guy in school, he’s never had a lack of romantic attention. However, kissing has never been something he’s enjoyed. He’s always found it uncomfortable and he’s never understood why everyone in the movies always speaks about fireworks.

His lack of enjoyment of kissing might have something to do with the fact he hasn’t met his soulmate, and thus has never experienced that apparently mind-blowing feeling of kissing the person he’s destined to spend the rest of his life with yet, but his point still stands – kissing is overrated.

Therefore, he really doesn’t understand why he’s so desperate to kiss this girl he has only met less than an hour ago.

Deep down, he’s aware that there is a good possibility that this strange desire to kiss this girl has nothing to do with rationality. It’s caused by something more inexplicable, something to do with fate. It’s caused by the very idea that his mom swoons about whenever she recounts her first kiss with his dad – why she’d think her teenage son would be interested in hearing that story is beyond him – and the very idea that he and Chad always feel repulsed by whenever someone alludes to it.

There’s a distinct possibility that this girl is his soulmate and he’s not quite sure how to deal with that knowledge.

Part of him wants to give into his emotions and his attraction to her, but another part of him is also deeply afraid. What if this girl he barely knows _is_ his soulmate? What if she lives on the other side of the country? What if she’s not as great as she seems? What if he can’t live up to her expectations of what a good soulmate should be?

Therefore, he’s decided to force himself to remain as calm as possible, and to fight this urge to press his lips to hers. She doesn’t seem like the type of person who would want to be kissed by a random stranger anyway, judging from her shy demeanour.

Except, they’re not complete strangers anymore at this point, since they have been chatting for what seems like hours, even though it has only been fifteen minutes tops in reality. The longer they talk, the more comfortable she grows around him, and the more he learns about her, the more infatuated he becomes.

So far, he’s learned that she really likes reading – she even took a book with her to the party, which he finds strangely adorable –, that she really appreciates a good cup of hot chocolate, that she’s an only child, and that she’s been here for seven days without them somehow bumping into each other.

He has also learned that her eyes, a deep brown colour that he could easily get lost in forever, sparkle brightly, that her cascading black curls frame her heart shaped face perfectly, and that she blushes very easily.

He wonders how much she would blush if he were to kiss her.

 _No_. He should stop those thoughts.

“You’re a good singer,” he comments as they walk onto the patio, both carrying a mug with hot chocolate, and Gabriella smiles as she shakes her head.

“I’m not a singer. I did try church choir once, but when I saw all those people staring at me, I fainted from stage fright. It was very embarrassing.”

It makes him feel warm inside as he realizes she didn’t seem to mind all those people staring tonight, as her attention was only focused on him.

“Well, I never would have thought that when we were up there,” he compliments her, and watches as she blushes before tucking a dark curl behind her hair.

“I know, it was so cool!” she responds, her voice filled with unbridled excitement, and he can’t help but grin and nods furiously in agreement.

He doesn’t know if it was the fact that he was with this exquisite girl or something entirely different, but he’s never imagined singing could be so much fun. Being on that stage, he felt free to be himself without any pretences, and the feeling was exhilarating.

He can think of something else that might also cause such feelings of utter euphoria, but he’s trying to push those to the back of his mind.

“You sound like you’ve done a lot of singing too,” she returns his compliment, and Troy’s hand flies up to his neck and rubs awkwardly in response as he shrugs.

“My showerhead is very impressed,” he retorts sarcastically, feeling warmth rush through his veins as she bursts into giggles at his lame joke.

If he thought her singing voice was beautiful, it’s nothing compared to the sound of her laughter. He doesn’t want to hear any other sound ever again.

However, her laughter is cut short when booming voices fill the air, counting down to the new year in synchronisation.

Their laughter dies down as they share an embarrassed smile and both look away, one thought lingering on Troy’s mind that he tries to push away.

A kiss at midnight would be perfect.

However, as much as he tries to ignore that thought and that urge, he can’t help but turn back to her, feeling a small flutter of excitement as their eyes meet, before she quickly averts her gaze.

The countdown is quickly coming to an end as he keeps his eyes firmly trained on the stars in the night sky, watching as the fireworks explode in a flashing array of colours to ring in the new year.

As cheers erupt around them, he can feel her leaning closer to him, her shoulder tentatively brushing against his. He remains still in his position, continuing to stare at the fireworks displayed before them, but he can feel her eyes drifting back to him and instinctively, he turns his head to lock eyes with her.

Without realizing what he’s doing, his gaze has flickered down to her glossy lips, and he slowly starts to lean in, unable to fight the magnetic pull that attracts him to her.

Before their lips can meet, however, she pulls back, blinking in shock before muttering, “I have to go find my mom to wish her a happy new year.”

No kiss.

Maybe it’s for the best, though, he reckons, because he’s still too terrified to find out if his hunch is right.

If the way he was just caught up in the moment is any indication, it probably is.

“Yeah, I’d better go find my parents, too,” he chokes out, and he feels strongly disappointed as he realizes that he’s going to have to let her go now. He doesn’t want to.

An idea comes to mind, and he quickly retrieves his phone from his pocket. “Put your number in!”

She lights up at the notion, smiling brightly as they exchange their phones to put in their contact information.

As she hands back his phone to him, there’s a contemplative look in her eyes.

“It was nice to meet you, Troy,” she whispers, and before he can open his mouth to reply, she has suddenly leaned up and her lips are pressed firmly to his.

And all he can feel is fireworks.

The feeling of euphoria is spreading through his entire body, setting off all of his nerve endings, as their lips move against each other in perfect harmony. Her lips are soft, so unbelievably soft, and her hands are tenderly threading through the hair on the back of his neck, and with a sigh, he pulls her in closer by the waist in order to diminish the distance between them.

It feels like his entire world has shifted, like every puzzle piece that’s been missing has fallen into place, like everything makes sense. There’s nothing that matters except her. Her. Her. Her.

His hunch was right. This girl he’s been paired up with randomly for karaoke is his soulmate.

As they pull away for air, her eyes are wide with shock, and he can imagine his own shock must be evident as well.

He already found her extremely beautiful before, but everything has somehow exemplified now. The shine of her hair, the sparkle in her eyes, the red blush on her cheeks – her perfection is too much for him to bear.

How did he get so lucky?

“Please stay with me,” he begs her quietly after a few moments of utter speechlessness, and Gabriella’s blush deepens at the implication.

He doesn’t mean just now, but forever.

She doesn’t seem to mind, though, for she bites her lip and then smiles tenderly, before reaching up to place another short kiss on his lips.

It’s just as mind-blowing as the first one.

He could get used to this.

He softly takes her hand in his, and she squeezes, as they grin at each other happily.

“Gladly.”


	2. this moment’s really all we have

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the one where you have a timer on your wrist counting down to the moment you meet them

Gabriella is nervous.

The day that she thought would never come has finally arrived. Tonight, it’s going to happen. Tonight, her soulmate timer is going to run out.

When she was a little girl, she always dreamed of this day. She’s always loved how poetic it is that her soulmate timer is set to New Year’s Eve, only about half an hour before the new year arrives. It would be a new beginning in so many ways.

However, now that the day is finally here, she’s terrified. She’s been feeling anxious all week since she and her mother arrived at the ski lodge, watching every person who is about her age go by and wonder if that could be them. Of course, they wouldn’t be, because otherwise her timer would be set to a different date and time, but it’s still daunting to know that her soulmate is most likely very close by.

While Gabriella has been a nervous wreck, though, her mother has been very excited. In all honesty, Gabriella is pretty sure that her mother planned this trip to Colorado just to create a some kind of romantic backdrop to this fateful encounter.

She’s also been very adamant to get Gabriella to go to this party hosted in the lodge tonight.

To be fair, her mother is right in trying to get her to go out – she won’t meet her soulmate when she’s cooped up in her room reading a book –, but the more she thinks about it, the more reluctant she is to follow through.

She has built up her expectations so high that she’s only bound to end up disappointed, and she also has no experience with love, other than her familial bonds with her parents.

It’s going to be a disaster, she can feel it.

However, she knows she’ll regret it forever if she stays in her room and misses the running out of her timer. So, here she is, in the clothes her mother laid out for her – she really has to give it to her mother for trying to make this evening as perfect as possible –, at a New Year’s Eve party at a ski lodge in Colorado, reading her book and attempting to be discrete as she surveys the room for possible soulmates.

A voice in the back of her mind tells her that she should probably not be sitting in a corner with a book if she wants to find this person she is destined to be with, but she hasn’t quite gained the confidence yet to go up to anyone and talk to them.

She’ll get up and put herself out there when the timer gets closer to running out. Now, she’s just waiting, nervously checking her wrist as the time continues ticking down, much faster than she’d like until there’s only a couple of minutes left.

She still has no idea who her soulmate is.

Before she can either panic about this fact or gather the courage to do something about it, a glaring spotlight is suddenly shining into her eyes.

A hand reaches out to her, and she contemplates for a moment if the guy who is pulling her up to the karaoke stage is her soulmate. She glances at her wrist and sees there is still some time left, so he probably isn’t.

The other guy on the stage, looking just as confused and frightened as her, just might be, though.

As he starts singing, hesitantly but beautifully, she kind of hopes that he is. And when they finally come face to face and she drowns in his ocean blue eyes, their voices harmonizing perfectly as they get lost in each other, she forgets about the timer altogether. The only thing she cares about right now is him. Just him.

He may be her soulmate. He may not be. But if the beating of her heart as they finish the song and introduce themselves to one another is any indication, it doesn’t matter. Regardless of what destiny has decided for her, she really likes this guy.

It doesn’t take her much longer to figure out if he is or isn’t her soulmate though, for a few minutes later, cup of hot chocolate in his hand, he suddenly pales dramatically.

“I forgot,” he chokes out as he stares off into space horrified, and Gabriella’s eyebrows furrow with confusion for a moment before realization dawns as he desperately glances at his wrist.

She can see his timer clearly. _00:00:00:00_.

As he quietly mumbles something in his panic that she can’t quite understand, she smiles at him timidly. Bashfully tucking a curl behind her ear, she quietly asks, “When did it run out?”

He looks back up at her, confused for a split second before his eyes widen with realization. His hand flies up to his neck and rubs awkwardly as a blush rises on his cheeks. “At 11:33.”

That’s when hers ran out, too.

She bites her lip coyly as his eyes flicker down to her wrist, covered by her cardigan, and she puts down her mug before pulling up her sleeve to reveal her own timer, run out as well.

Troy stares at it in awe as she whispers, “December 31st, 2006. 11 o’clock, 33 minutes and 48 seconds.”

That’s the exact time when their voices first joined in harmony.

Troy blinks a few times in shock, before a lopsided grin slowly breaks onto his face. Softly, yet confidently, he grabs her hand and intertwines their fingers.

It’s a perfect fit.

“You know, I’ve always found it kind of cool that we were going to meet on New Year’s Eve. With it being the start of a new year and all that,” Gabriella blurts out when Troy keeps staring at her with such wonder and adoration that it’s starting to make her feel awkward, even if it’s completely flattering and she wishes he would never stop.

Troy lets out a chuckle and nods, before grinning cheekily. “I guess it really is the start of something new, huh?”

Gabriella can’t help but snort in response to his lame joke and then nods vigorously, barely registering as the countdown to the new year begins around them.

This countdown doesn’t matter to her, though. The only countdown that mattered today was the one that led her to her soulmate.

The only thing that matters is that she has been led to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s a common misconception that Troy and Gabriella met 31st December 2005, when it was actually 2006, since they were juniors at the time and they graduated in 2008. Just thought I’d mention that before anyone gets confused about the date I used, lmao.


	3. this feeling’s like no other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the one where you know when you first touch them

This is definitely not how Gabriella thought her ski trip would go.

She thought she would just hit the slopes a little, spend much needed quality time with her mother and read books by the fire. She thought she would just get a chance to relax and recuperate before she would have to start all over at a new school yet again.

It’s not that she hasn’t done all of those things. She has skied, she has read and she has spent time with her mother. Up until tonight, the trip was all going according to plan.

She just didn’t expect to take part in the activity she’s currently engaged in – singing karaoke at a New Year’s Eve party with a complete stranger.

He’s a cute stranger, though, she must admit. With ocean blue eyes and floppy brown hair, he’s not bad to look at, and he has quite a nice voice as well.

He seems to be rather interested in her too, for she can notice the glances he’s been stealing from her as they tentatively sing their way through the first chorus.

When he loses his jacket during the second verse as he starts getting into it, she can’t help but giggle. He’s not only cute, but he’s definitely charming as well.

It only takes until the bridge of the song, when he’s leaning his microphone down next to her, lighting up when she laughs at his antics, for her to realize that he’s not just generally charming, he’s consciously trying to charm _her_. It makes the entire situation all the more overwhelming – here she is, at a New Year’s Eve party at a ski lodge, singing in front of complete strangers while a cute guy whose name she doesn’t even know tries to flirt with her.

While this should make her all the more timid and anxious and it should worsen her stage fright, the warmth of his smile just makes her feel more at ease. Releasing her own microphone from its stand, she decides to disregard the audience and just focus on him and the music as they both sings their hearts out.

It works, right until he suddenly starts moving closer to her, slowly, step by step, and she feels herself grow shy under his playful gaze.

When he suddenly grabs a hold of the microphone stand between them, his hand landing rather close to hers, she feels something foreign and exciting course through her.

A spark.

And they haven’t even touched yet.

It’s at that point that a word springs to mind that she never thought she would consider on this trip – soulmates.

Of course, she could be wrong. It could just be the fact that she’s never interacted with cute boys before – much less cute boys who seem to return her interest –, but the shock she felt with their hands merely being _close_ to brushing was so intense.

She’s read about soulmates many times, she’s heard the stories about that one touch that sets your world on fire, she knows exactly what the feeling is supposed to be like and this seems close enough.

The thought brings back all her fears. She can’t believe she’s really up here on a karaoke stage with a random stranger who may or may not be her soulmate. This cannot be happening to her. How does she respond? Does she touch him to test her theory? But what if she’s right? What does she do then? She has no idea how to act around boys, especially if they’re possible _soulmates_.

Lost in her spiralling thoughts, she barely notices as the boy keeps moving closer to her and she instinctively keeps stepping back until she suddenly feels herself lose balance and stumble backwards off the stage.

Thankfully, before she can really fall, she feels hands on her back pushing her back up, and she shoots the audience members who kept her from falling a grateful look before she looks back at the boy.

He’s still smiling and singing enthusiastically, and Gabriella wonders if he felt the same spark she did or not. He seems so unaffected by their near touch. She doesn’t think she’s ever heard of a soulmate relationship being one-sided, but with her luck, she supposes anything is possible.

Of course, she’s still not sure if he really is her soulmate, but as she stares into his eyes as they finish the song, she finds herself thinking that it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if he is.

“Troy,” he says as the music has stopped, reaching out his hand to shake hers and she gulps as she watches his hand for a moment.

This is it. The moment of truth. Looking back up at him, she sees that his eyebrows are furrowed with confusion, probably due to her hesitance in shaking his hand, but she can also see a hint of hope and anticipation in them that makes her wonder if he wasn’t so unaffected as she thought he was.

“Gabriella,” she answers, her voice slightly wobbly with nerves, and taking a deep breath, she softly places her hand in his.

It’s like her world is on fire.

Her entire body is engulfed in a fiery warmth for a moment, and then her skin erupts in millions of tiny pleasurable tingles.

As she slowly opens her eyes – she hasn’t even realized they have closed –, she sees his eyes flutter open as well, watching her with childlike wonder.

“They’re soulmates!” an audience member shouts from a distance, before the crowd interrupts in cheers and the MC pats Troy on the back in congratulations.

“Told you that you guys might thank me one day,” he tells them cheekily, but neither Gabriella nor Troy hear him, for they’re too engrossed in each other, taking in every detail of their newfound soulmate’s shocked face.

_Soulmate_.

She just found her _soulmate_.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Troy asks softly after a few moments have passed, and Gabriella feels a rush of elation course through her as she nods fervously.

As they walk to the bar to get mugs of chocolate, she notices that Troy has firmly intertwined their hands in a perfect fit, and it makes her grin with excitement.

This is definitely not how she thought her ski trip would go. But she can’t say she really minds the outcome.


	4. my heart loves the view

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the one where you have matching soul marks on your skin

Troy loves his soul mark.

No, really, he does. His friends – well, only Chad really – often talk about how dumb the idea of soulmates is and especially the fact that there’s a random mark tattooed on your body that matches perfectly with that of the person you’re meant to spend the rest of your life with.

Then again, Chad’s soul mark bears a strange resemblance to a cow’s udder, so Troy gets why he doesn’t really like it. Troy’s soul mark, on the other hand, is a nice clean line of dots in his neck. He likes to think the dots resembles stars in a clear night sky, but he would never say that out loud.

However, despite his fondness of his soul mark, he has hid it under his mop of hair for years, not wanting to draw attention to it since everyone in school seems to be interested in his every move because he leads the Wildcats.

He has wanted to keep this part of him to himself, and he has only planned to share this intimate detail about his life with his soulmate once the moment arrives.

He has always thought that this moment wouldn’t come for another ten years, at least. He has no time for romance and there’s no one that interests him.

No one except the cute girl he’s currently on a karaoke stage with. He has only spared a couple of glances at her, feeling too daunted by the idea that he has to sing in front of an audience to really care about anything else, but he’s noticed that she’s quite pretty, with her tumbling black curls and heart-shaped face and sweet voice.

It’s when he sneaks another glance at her and watches her tuck her hair behind her ear that his breath is truly taken away by her.

She has the exact same dotted line on her skin, in the exact same place where his is located.

He blinks in shock. Does this mean–? Is she–? That’s impossible. He’s too young, too inexperienced to meet his soulmate right now. He’s not ready.

However, a surge of excitement rushes through him as her hair falls over the familiar dotted line again. He might be young and inexperienced, but the possibility of falling in love is something that strangely excites him.

Suddenly, he has met her eyes, brown and sparkling, and he decides he doesn’t mind falling in love with her.

She’s looking at him oddly, and it’s then that he realizes he’s been staring at her longingly. With a blush, he continues to sing his part as he tries to keep his eyes off of her.

It seems impossible, for she’s too exquisite for him to ignore her presence besides him.

He’s still unable to stop staring at Gabriella – her name is perfect, just like her – when they’re outside later, and he can see she’s starting to get freaked out by him.

“Is there something on my face?” she asks, a little timidly, and he quickly shakes his head.

Now what does he say? Should he confess? Or should he make up some lame excuse she surely won’t believe?

“I just… like your cardigan,” he answers lamely, and her eyebrows rise suspiciously for a moment before she mutters a thank you as she pulls the cardigan closer over her body.

Of course, she wasn’t wearing the cardigan before, so he knows she doesn’t believe a word he just said. And judging by the way she’s awkwardly looking down at the ground, he’s sure he’s scaring her off.

Oh god, this is his soulmate and he’s creeping her out. What the hell is he doing?

“I saw your soul mark earlier. Pretty cool,” he blurts out in an attempt to salvage the situation and both pairs of eyes widen in response, his with embarrassment and hers with realization as to why he’s behaving so strangely.

“Thank you,” she mumbles in reply, her cheeks turning red like a tomato, as she tucks her hair behind her ear again. “I always like to think they’re stars in the sky.”

“That’s what I’d like to think, too!”

He immediately feels a hot blush rise to his cheeks as he awkwardly reaches up to rub his neck, averting his gaze from her.

God, he has probably freaked her out even more now.

“I’m so sorry,” he continues, his voice shaky with nerves, as he continues to avoid looking at her, however difficult it seems to be. “You probably expected someone much better than, well, me, or at least someone who wouldn’t freak you out like that, and god, I’m so sorry for being such a creep.”

A silence befalls them for a moment, before she lets out a sigh.

“I should probably think that you’re a little weird,” she concedes timidly, before her lips curl upwards in a small, tender smile. “But the weird thing is that I don’t. I guess that’s because of the soulmates thing.”

He barely has time to react to how she’s the first one between them to actually say it out loud, for he suddenly feels a soft hand land on his neck, tentatively diving into his hair and sending a spark through his entire body.

He returns his gaze to hers and watches as she uncovers his soul mark, her eyes alight with wonder as she stares at it, before a pretty smile graces her features.

“It really is beautiful, huh?” she says quietly, and Troy chuckles nervously in response, not daring to move or say anything to break the moment.

After a moment, she pulls her hand back, letting his hair fall over his soul mark again, and he feels a rush of coldness at the loss of her touch.

“So, what do we do now?” she asks, and Troy can’t help but smile in relief as he sees the nerves swimming her eyes.

He’s glad that she’s just as daunted by this prospect as he is. That means they’ll be able to tread these uncharted waters together.

As he stares into her eyes, he suddenly isn’t nearly as terrified anymore.

“How about we just get to know each other?” he says, shrugging. “I mean, without me acting like a man gone mad.”

She giggles at that and the sound of her laughter makes his heart skip a beat.

“That sounds like a great plan. What do you want to know?”

He wants to know everything.

He decides to start small, though. “Well, let’s start with how you learned to sing that well.”

He listens intently as she tells a story about nearly fainting during church choir, his attention only briefly leaving her as he spares a glance at the night sky that will soon be filled with fireworks.

Now, it’s just filled with bright stars, just like the dotted line on both their necks, and it makes him smile.

He loves his soul mark, but not because it reminds him of the night sky he’s currently looking it.

He loves it, because it has brought him to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know, is Chad’s soul mark weird enough for him to be so blatantly against the idea of soulmates because of it? Why do I even care about this minor detail?
> 
> Also, I hope it isn’t getting too repetitive at this point! Either way, thanks for all the love. Don’t remember to leave kudos and/or comments, they really make my day!


	5. a single voice above the noise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the one where you know when you first hear their voice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last one! This is also my personal favourite, if not just because it’s the most fitting out of all of them. I mean, that look on Troy’s face when he first hears Gabriella’s voice? I will never get over that. NEVER.
> 
> Anyway, happy new year! I hope 2019 will be awesome for you all!

It has been said that you know when you first hear your soulmate’s voice. Many have described it as feeling as if the world shifts a little, as if the ground crumbles under your feet and then builds back up again.

It feels like heaven, that one little sound.

Most people experience that earth-shattering moment during their first conversation, when introducing themselves to one another or simply asking a stranger a question without knowing what is to come.

That is not Troy and Gabriella’s story.

It should be overwhelming enough that they’re pushed onto a karaoke stage together, with a smug MC telling them that they should thank him for this.

At that point, both of them think that they would rather kill him than thank him. They’re not singers – if you ignore a failed attempt at a church choir solo and enthusiastic performances in the shower – and this will only end in embarrassment of catastrophic proportions.

Yet it seems like there’s no way out. Avoiding looking at the girl besides him, Troy feels nausea bubble in his stomach as the first few notes of the song sound. Looking at the glaring light of the screen before him, he starts singing tentatively.

Gabriella’s world shifts a little.

Troy barely notices as he is too focused on the task at hand, but Gabriella’s eyes widen in response and she feels even more faint than she did when she was brought up to the stage.

At first, it doesn’t sink in. An explicable feeling of euphoria is coursing through her, setting her body on fire from head to toe, but she’s unable to grasp the full reality of what is happening.

And then it does. Suddenly, everything feels right, as if a void that she never knew she possessed has been filled. Every little worry that came over her the second that spotlight fell on her slowly ebbs away until there’s only a pleasurable buzz left humming inside her body.

It doesn’t matter that she’s performing in front of a crowd of strangers when she has horrible stage fright. It doesn’t matter that she’s been paired up with someone she doesn’t even know. It just doesn’t matter.

Because as long as she’s hearing his voice, she knows that everything will be alright.

It feels as if an eternity has passed since the boy opened his mouth, but in reality he has only sung two lines, before desperately turning away from the microphone, ready to run off stage.

It’s then that Gabriella realizes she knows something he doesn’t, that she’s about to open his eyes to this bright new world that she’s been plunged into.

It’s daunting, but it’s terribly exciting all the same.

So, with a deep breath, she stares at the screen and softly sings her first line.

The ground crumbles beneath Troy’s feet and then builds back up again.

His mouth slightly agape, he turns back to look at the girl standing on the stage, her arms wrapped around herself tightly as she softly sings her lines.

He feels like a man who has been wandering in the desert for weeks to finally have this thirst quenched. His heart beats fast and loudly in his chest and a foreign yet strangely familiar fluttering resides in his stomach.

He never wants to stop listening to her voice, and even though her back is turned to him and he can only see the dark tresses of her hair fall over her shoulders, he never wants to take his eyes off her.

Visions come over him, of wedding dresses, of children that have her hair and his eyes, of white houses with picket fences. It fills him with delight. It’s something that he never knew he wanted, especially at this age, but he’s excited for this future. He hopes that she is too.

Realization dawns on him that she already knew, since he started singing before him, and he wonders if it’s just as wonderful and overwhelming for her as it is for him.

Almost as if in a trance, he steps forward and hums into the microphone, carefully watching her and taking in her profile. He feels a slight rush of pride come over him as a small smile graces her features in response.

And then their voices join in harmony and one word arises in both minds.

Heaven.

Both pairs of eyes flicker to one another and for the first time, blue meets brown, and a shock runs through both their bodies.

They continue singing the words, tentatively, as they keep sneaking glances at each other, revelling in the way their voices complement each other perfectly.

When the second verse hits, Troy is getting into it, feeling the thrill of singing with her, and starts taking his jacket off as he starts to lose himself in the music just enough not to lose track of her and her amused giggles in response to his antics.

It thrills him like nothing he has ever experienced before, to see her bright smile and hear the soft sound of her laughter. He never wants to stop listening to that beautiful sound. He just wants to be around her, bask in her presence and spend eternity with her.

She can’t believe how comfortable she feels on this stage, surrounded by strangers. It feels like coming home and she wants to stay in his vicinity for as long as he lets her, which, judging from the way he’s looking at her, will be a long time.

However, the way he looks at her also unnerves her. She’s not used to this attention and this attraction, and as much as everything about being with him feels right, she still feels insecurity come over her as he suddenly starts stepping closer to her. Instinctively, she backs away and almost falls from the stage and she inwardly chastises herself for embarrassing herself in front of her soulmate.

He, however, doesn’t seem to mind, still grinning at her, and she feels her confidence return. This person is going to be at her side forever, and she can be herself around him, so there’s no need to be shy.

He’ll accept her for who she is, and she will accept him.

As the song finally comes to an end, both of them are staring into each other’s eyes, paralyzed as they contemplate what to do next, how to approach this situation now they have to actually talk.

Troy is the first to break the ice, sticking out his hand as he tells her his name. “Troy.”

Gabriella smiles in response.

Troy. She could get used to hearing that name.

“Gabriella,” she responds, putting her hand in his and both of pairs of eyes close as they both revel in the sparks that shoot down their arms in response to the contact.

Gabriella. Gabriella. Gabriella.

What a beautiful name. Troy will never get tired of hearing it.

Smiling at each other, they don’t notice that the party goes on around them. They’re stuck in their own world that they just built together, and that they know they will continue to inhabit for the rest of their lives.

Hearing your soulmate’s voice certainly feels like heaven.

But so does the start of your future together.


End file.
